Page 58 of Beta Team-The Saviors: Part One

“Of course you would,” Gavin laughs.

Now that Kane is off the table, why the hell would they want to see me so much? Did Mr. Porter think I was so damn weak that I couldn’t handle myself? I feel bad for being rude to Professor North because he was trying to follow instructions. I’ll have to apologize because it will keep me up at night.

Along with dreams about Keon.

19

ARI

Ipull into the designated meeting spot that Baxter set so I can give them all the information that I can. Kira was right last night. I was too busy being pissed off that I was sidelined that I didn’t see how much I could still help. I worked this case for a fucking year with Michaela to bring these assholes down, and it pisses me off that someone brought this back.

Baxter pulls in beside me and nods his head for me to follow him. I climb from my truck and meet him at the back of his. “I won’t offend you by asking if you were followed.”

“I drove around in circles for an hour to make sure,” I assure him. “What’s going on?”

He looks around and shakes his head. “Not here.”

I follow him down a path that disappears between trees. We walk for almost a mile before a little cabin comes into view. He keys in a code and pushes the door open. The rest of his team is waiting in the living room with Michaela. I look around. “Your husband going to pull a gun on me again?”

“No. He knows everything now.” I know how much she wanted to hide this part of herself, but she knew going in that was impossible. I knew it with Jason and really didn’t want to gethim pulled in so early, but it was like a fucking weight lifted off when he found out. “I gave them all the information I have, but you were in their inner circle.”

“How in the hell did you get pulled into this again?” I ask, sitting beside her. “You said you heard rumors.”

“I did. Then I had confirmation. Do you remember his little brother, Andres?”

“Yeah. He wasn’t in the game, though.”

“He is now,” Roland throws in. “And it’s not just drugs anymore.” He throws a file on the coffee table. “They’re in the skin trade.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” I ask, picking the folder up. “If I would have known he wasn’t innocent, I would have killed his ass when I popped his brother.”

“He’s built a crew from the ground up,” Koa fills in. “Michaela heard chatter that he was around again, so Axel had us check it out. The warehouse you guys took out was his.”

“Which is why he blew up their house,” I guess. “How did you get caught up last night?”

“I had a lead for one of his outposts. They were waiting for me when I got there,” Michaela answers.

“Why did you go alone?” I demand. “You know better than that.”

“Because it was just a drive-by to see if the lead was real.”

“You know you were set up, right?” I ask.

“I know that now,” she grits out.

“That makes twice you guys have been sent out with your ass in the wind. Have you handled the informants?”

“I did,” Asher says. “One met an unfortunate demise down a flight of stairs. The other we interrogated last night. Andres has been gathering information for years. He already paid them off.”

“So any of the informants for this case can’t be used,” I muse. “You guys are starting from scratch.”

“We need to flip someone on his crew,” Zeke says. “That’s the only way to get real-time information.”

“They aren’t going to let any more outsiders in since Bruno made that mistake with me. You’re going to have to work this from a different angle. How do they process buyers?”

“Through a website. Nolan hasn’t been able to get us in yet,” Baxter answers.

“The one thing you have working to your advantage is Andres obviously doesn’t think his plans through. You hit him, and he hits you back immediately. Bruno would have let everything die down and then come after you when you weren’t expecting it. He must be more hot-headed than his brother.”